Hanging by a Moment
by Akimi Kono
Summary: High school/college AU. Just another story about an awkward teen named Iruka who's in love with his best friend and struggles to get through high school and college with as little damage as possible. But that's kind of hard when the sly Kakashi is also after your crush and you're being relentlessly pursued by the popular girl - who already has a boyfriend! Iruka/OC.
1. Love, Loss & Prevailing Against the Odds

**A/N: **I wrote this story way back in 2008 and I'd been working on it up until 2011, but then it kind of went on a hiatus. I published it on Quizilla and it so far has 42 chapters but is currently unfinished. I started it when I was 12 so it was pretty bad and angsty, so I decided to revise it after so many years! Woo hoo! This chapter isn't too much different but the characterization is drastically different, though. I'll be trying to revise all the other chapters and finish this story (as well as the sequel I had planned). I hope you like it. This story is my baby. This is exciting!

If you want to read the original story, you can find it under my account on Quizilla: aikalovesong.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, the characters, plot, etc. etc. etc. I just own all of my OCs (of which I realize now there are many) and dialogues and blah blah blah. Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. It's 1:43am here.

* * *

Akimi strode through the cafeteria line, glancing over the lunch options with disdain. Every now and again the school kind of forgot that their lunches were supposed to be _food_ and served a myriad of neutral-colored items that kind of resembled edible foodstuffs but were questionable. She managed to find a few items that looked okay and grabbed a milk carton. She headed back towards the table she always sat at but was surprised to see someone new sitting there.

A blonde girl was giggling loudly, leaning close to the lean, tan boy that Akimi recognized as her friend and crush. The girl continued laughing a bit too loudly, gaining the attention of several students around them. "Iruka-kun! You're _so_ funny."

Iruka looked slightly uncomfortable with the sudden attention and his face burned a rosy shade of pink. He glanced down shyly and managed to get a good look at the girl's chest which was filling up her partially unbuttoned blouse with the aid of a black push-up bra. He looked up quickly, adverting his gaze from the girl. She leaned closer, scooting to the edge of her seat. She was practically straddling Iruka by the time Akimi got to the table. She set down her tray, casting a wary glance at the two.

"Hi Ayane," she said softly. "Hi Iruka."

"Hi Akimi," he replied, giving a quick, short wave. Ayane hummed a reply but kept her eyes trained on the tan boy in front of her.

Akimi waited a moment, poking at the beige lump on one of the plates, then turned back to them. "Where's your lunch Ayane? Are you going to be eating with us?"

The girl glanced over her shoulder at the brunette and sighed, flipping her hair as she turned back to Iruka. "I should go. The paparazzi's starting to ask questions." She smirked as she stood, trailing a finger along Iruka's shoulder before glancing at Akimi. "Later 'Kimi." She strutted off towards her table filled with the popular kids. It was hard to tell if she was being sarcastic and malicious or was genuinely offering a parting word to the girl.

"Yeah, bye …" came Iruka's late reply. He noticed the brunette girl looking at him and he cleared his throat and turned back to his tray, scratching at his cheek. "H-Hey, Akimi …."

"Hey."

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye as she struggled to open her milk carton.

"Um … why …. why are you sitting with me?"

Akimi turned to look at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean you usually sit … somewhere else. So why are you sitting here? With me?"

The girl paused for a moment, still clutching the paper carton in her hand. She glanced around the room filled with chattering students and then back to the brown-eyed boy. She smiled softly. "Because you're my friend."

A warm blush graced his face and he nodded, "Yeah, I know that... but you never sit me with at lunch. You're usually... I dunno. Nevermind, I guess it doesn't matter."

"Okay." She turned back to her milk carton which was proving to be unnecessarily difficult to open. She peeled at the paper opening and squeezed it in an attempt to pop it open. Frustrated with no results, she gripped it tight with her fingernails and sighed heavily. She gave it another squeeze in hopes that it would open but it didn't. She let it go and dropped it onto the tray. Immediately a long thin spray of milk came spurting out of the side, leaking from the indentation of one of her fingernails. Milk began to coat her tray and one of her dishes.

"Oh! Your milk is leaking!" Iruka exclaimed, pointing out the obvious. Akimi tilted the carton onto its side quickly and stabbed a clear plastic straw into the leaking slit and began sucking down the milk. Iruka stared at her a bit puzzled. "You're …"

"What?" she asked, pulling away from the straw now stained white with milk.

"You're kind of … weird."

Akimi laughed softly and shook her head. "Whatever."

"No, really."

"Sure thing." She surveyed his tray and spotted a spring roll that she wanted. With a quick hand she struck out and grabbed it, pinching it between her index and thumb finger.

"Hey! Give it back." Iruka reached for the spring roll but she held it away from him. "That's mine."

"You have two of them," she began, motioned with her free hand to the second roll still on his tray. "I don't have any."

"You have one."

She paused and glanced down at the one she held. "Well … _now_ I do."

"If you wanted one you should've gotten one."

"They didn't have any."

"Well that's a shame. It's still _my_ spring roll."

She pondered for a moment and for half a second Iruka thought that maybe he'd get it back, but he knew better and a fraction of a second later Akimi had stuffed the roll into her mouth and was giggling wildly as she fended him off, trying to swallow and not choke. She turned back to her tray only once she had swallowed all of the roll and picked up her sideways carton to drink some milk.

Iruka looked over her tray and plucked one of the dumplings from a bowl.

"Hey! Wait! That doesn't equal one spring roll. It's twice as big... plus it's one of the only good foods I got today. You can only have half – or I get your other roll." She crept her fingers along the table to snatch the other spring roll from Iruka's tray but he slapped her hand away.

"Hmm, I think I would like my other spring roll..." He took a moment to debate with himself if he really wanted to swap two rolls for one dumpling.

"Here," Akimi offered finally, "decide how much is half and then put that amount in your mouth."

Iruka looked confused and glanced between the dumpling and the girl.

"Just do it."

"Fine, fine." Iruka eyeballed the amount and put half of the round dumpling into his mouth, the other half sticking out. "Lii dis?"

She nodded, "Yep, just like that." She turned in her seat to face Iruka and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Whad aa ew duin?"

"Just wait." Akimi took a moment to analyze the situation and the best way to tackle the obstacle that was dividing the dumpling exactly in half. She glanced at Iruka and saw the confusion and hesitation in his eyes. He didn't trust her. Oh well. She grinned suddenly, mischievously.

"You don't know weird," she said quickly.

"Ha?" he asked around the food. But before he could get an answer, she leaned in close to him and slowly tilted her head to the side, parting her lips to envelope the other half of the dumpling in her mouth. It had the illusion of a kiss from several angles. Iruka's face immediately burned bright red and he looked anxious. Beads of sweat dotted at his temples as his body temperature rose steadily.

Akimi easily bit through the soft doughy dumpling and pulled back, watching bits of cabbage and other filling tumble to the ground. She smiled warmly as she ate her half of the pastry. Iruka's mouth hung agape with the dumpling showing. Akimi was sipping her milk, staring at him through long lashes. She pulled off the straw, a round drop of white milk resting on the curve of her bottom lip. "You know, you should really eat your half before I decide to eat it myself."

Iruka could tell by the gleam in her eyes that she was just teasing him but it was enough to get him to shut his mouth. He swallowed hard without chewing and drank his own milk painfully slow. He avoided eye contact with the girl as he turned back to his tray, his appetite suddenly suppressed.

Akimi glanced around the cafeteria but no one seemed to be paying any attention to them. Everyone was busy in their own life; laughing, talking, making plans. That was high school. People were busy with parties and boyfriends and girlfriends and passing tests. She cast another glance towards Iruka who was huddled over his tray, his blush staining his entire face up to his ears and down his neck a deep crimson. She smiled to herself then turned her attention to her iPod that she pulled from her jacket pocket. One of the great things about the high school was that they hadn't yet banned electronics.

The girl shuffled through the songs until she found one that she could easily hum to,_ Hanging by a Moment _by Lifehouse, some American band. She pushed her dark purple earbuds into her ears and bobbed her head along to the tune, humming the lyrics until the chorus came. She didn't mind if her friends heard her sing without any accompanying music but it was the momentary burst of inner courage and forgetting that she was sitting in the middle of the lunchroom that caused her to softly sing the lyrics.

"I'm falling even more in love with you, letting go of all I've held onto … I'm standing here until you make me move, I'm hanging by a moment here with you … I'm living for the only thing I know, I'm running and not quite sure where to go … And I don't know what I'm diving into, just hanging by a moment here with you ..." She kept her head bobbing, her foot tapping along to a beat unheard by her lunchmates. "There's nothing else to lose … there's nothing else to find … there's nothing in the world, that can change my mind … there is nothing else … there is nothing else … there is nothing else..."

Akimi glanced over out of instinct to see her tan-faced friend staring at her. She pulled out one of the earbuds and stared at him. "Huh?"

He shook his head, "Nothing."

"Oh, okay. ...You sure?"

"Yeah."

She pushed the earbud back in and began nodding her head again to the song. She didn't notice that some of the kids at the table had moved away for a quieter conversation or that Ayane had fixed her attention on another helpless boy three tables over. She didn't even notice that her friend was watching intently, wondering what song she was listening to and if there was any meaning behind the lyrics.


	2. Breathing in Roses

**A/N: **Yeah! Chapter 2! So most of the chapters have song titles. Some of them are a combination of songs and one of them I think I just made it up? Anyways the relationship between Akimi and Mizukawa is totally different than in the original. I like this one better.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, its characters, plot, etc. etc. etc. I only own my OCs, original dialogue, etc. etc. etc. Thank you, enjoy, R&R.

Unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Akimi gazed out the window to her left catching glimpses of wispy clouds hanging in the startlingly blue sky, a breeze rattling the shining leaves on all the trees. It was an incredibly nice day and it seemed a shame to spend it inside – especially in her current class. Math. She wanted to go outside and bask under the warm sunshine and get funny tan lines that wouldn't go away until she stripped into a bikini and lounged on a beach or a backyard somewhere. She smiled at the thought and wondered who would be willing to join her in her escapade to absorb up as much sunlight as possible before evening.

"Kono!"

She broke out of her daydream and turned her attention back to her teacher who was staring at her with narrowed eyes.

"What?" she asked, dazed. The classroom rippled with laughter and Akimi blushed warmly. The teacher glared down the aisle at her, pointing a sharp index finger at her in warning and turned back to the blackboard. She shrunk down into her seat and propped up her open math book on her desk to create a barrier between her and the rest of the class. She didn't feel like looking at anyone.

* * *

The bell rang and she was up and out of the classroom first, grabbing a homework assignment from the desk. She desperately wanted to enjoy the warmth outside and considered skipping her last class in order to do so. She hadn't really skipped school before but it seemed like an optimal answer to her dilemma.

She wandered over to her locker and knocked once on the metal door. It swung open easily; luckily it wasn't stuck this time. She checked to make sure that no one else had tried to same trick in order to break into her locker, but everything seemed to be in class. She did a mental checklist of her items, scanning the locker for them. Pencil bag, backpack, books, notebooks and a glossy photo of her American penpal. Yep. Everything was there.

Akimi dumped her math notebook and textbook into the locker and grabbed a secondary notebook and a mechanical pencil lying on the bottom of the locker. She closed the cubby and attempted to lock it, knowing that the mechanism had been broken since Iruka was a freshman (he had had this locker before and had on more than one occasion come back to find items stolen). She bounced on her heels trying to decide what to do then, with a heavy sigh, headed off towards her next class. She wouldn't skip art class after all. At least she liked the subject, anyways.

* * *

One of the advantages of being the art teacher's favorite student was she got to pick wherever she wanted to sit at the beginning of the year and she had eagerly chosen the seat in front of the large bay window that looked over the sloping hills dotted with maple trees. So she wouldn't be outside until the end of the day, at least she'd be able to get a good look at it. Besides, the sun was in perfect position and warmed her body through the window without blinding her.

Akimi turned her attention to the bowl of fruit sat before her on the small table. She glanced around to see other kids scratching at their sketchbooks with thick, black lines of charcoal and muttering to themselves in exasperation. She looked back at her own bowl and squinted her eyes at it. Still life was always a problem for her. She had never gotten the hang of drawing inanimate objects, which she thought should've been the easiest thing to draw.

She hesitantly pressed the end of her charcoal to the rough paper and sketched out the round shape of the bowl and the basic outlines of pears, apples and an unnaturally yellow banana. She held the sketchbook back and judged the current shape of everything. The bowl was a bit lopsided and the apples were too big, overcrowding the misshapen pears and the banana she had drawn too thin and long. She sighed and looked back towards the other students. A few of them were doing okay, looking pleased with their drawings, but others were struggling like her. One student threw down his sketchbook and tugged at his hair with black-stained hands, marring his face with charcoal unintentionally.

She cast a glance at the foreign exchange student, Nicholas, who looked confusedly at his bowl of fruit. She wondered if he knew what he was supposed to be doing (maybe they didn't have art classes in America). He looked up at her, a bewildered expression on his face. He dropped his sketchbook and charcoal and grabbed the bowl of fruit, turning it so it faced Akimi from across the room. She squinted at it and then saw what caused him to make the face. All of the fruits in his bowl had been given a variety of facial expressions with thick, black Sharpie lines. The banana was looking sleepy and dreamy; the apples were arguing with each other; and the pears looked frightened and were tilted away from the apples, their little Sharpie-drawn arms pulled up to their face in fear.

Akimi threw her hands over his mouth to stifle her laughter but it was too late. She had had already let out a loud squeal of surprise which caught everyone's attention. She threw her head down, dropping her charcoal on the ground.

"Kono-chan?" came the soft voice of a young girl with black pigtails. She looked over from her table to the brunette girl who was huddled over her table. "Are you okay?"

Akimi nodded, leaning down to snatch up her broken piece of charcoal and sat back up, brushing back her hair. "Yeah," she nodded again, avoiding eye contact with anyone in the class. "I'm fine!"

"What happened?"

"Nothing..."

"...okay."

The class hesitantly went back to their own work, occasionally casting glances at the peculiar brunette sitting at her own table. She wiped her face with the white rag beside the bowl of fruit and looked down to see it was now spotted with dark marks. Great. So she probably had a face covered in charcoal now. She sighed and dropped the rag back on the table and began looking around the room again nonchalantly.

Her eyes landed on the tan-skinned boy across the room sitting at a table of three, his eyebrows pinched together as he studied the wooden bowl filled with oranges and grapes. Akimi smiled to herself as she watched him tilt his head this way and that to get a better angle at the smooth bowl but to no advantage. He sighed and began haphazardly sketching his piece. The other kids at his table looked just as loss and gave up trying to study the fruit and followed Iruka's footsteps in just sketching.

She hadn't noticed that she was still staring at him though her mind had wandered elsewhere. Iruka glanced up, feeling like he was being watched only to meet eyes with her. His face blazed red and he turned his eyes away quickly, too quickly – the others at his table noticed. They looked over to where he had been looking and began chuckling and nudging him with their elbows. They wanted him to go over and talk to her. Iruka shook his head violently and refused to budge from his seat.

Akimi, about as red-faced as her friend, turned away and sat back in her chair. She looked up at the ceiling in hopes that she'd find inspiration in the tiles, but no such luck. She looked back down at her sketchbook riddled with messy pencil and charcoal drawings and one half-decent watercolor that had leaked onto three other pages. She tore out the drawing of the lumpy fruit bowl and started to redraw it when she noticed that she'd already used the page – but not for a sketch. Written in sharp, thin lines were partial lyrics to another Lifehouse song. She forgot she had written those in there and read over them.

_'Cause I'm hanging on every word you say, and even if you don't want to speak tonight that's alright with me … 'Cause I want nothing more than to sit outside your door and listen to you breathing, is where I want to be._

She smiled to herself, remembering the tune in her head and hummed softly to herself. It'd been a while since she heard the song so she made a mental note to play it once she got home.

Akimi glanced over at the wall clock sitting above Mizukawa-sensei's desk. She still had another 30 minutes until the class was over. She rolled her charcoal between her fingers, debating what she should do with the rest of her time. She didn't feel like doing the project they'd been assigned, but she needed to do _something_. Just because she was the favorite student didn't mean that she could just skip assignments. She'd have to turn in some sort of artwork. She considered pulling out an old sketch but remembered she'd showed her entire sketchbook to Mizukawa-sensei earlier in the week and she'd know if it was an old piece.

She could always draw _someone_ instead of _something_. After all, she preferred to draw people. It was easier and more interesting. The curve of muscles and pull of tendons under the skin; the length of arms and legs and way light reflected off shoulders and hips. It all fascinated her. But who would she draw? It wasn't like she could just ask someone to model for her in the middle of class with only thirty minutes left. It'd have to be a quick sketch of them, anyways, if she was to get it done in time. Maybe if she hurried she could add some shading and get a decent grade on it. She didn't expect an A since it wasn't the assigned project, but it was better than nothing.

_Oh, I know_, she thought, looking across the room to the table where three boys sat. _I'll draw him. _She smiled and squeezed her charcoal lightly, subtly turning her chair so she could get a better look at the boys. Then she set to drawing.

"Akimi, I'd like to have a word with you," Mizukawa-sensei said, making everyone in the room cast apologetic glances at her.

"Yes?"

Mizukawa motioned for her to come over to her desk. She nervously gripped her sketchbook close to her body and headed over to the desk, avoiding direct eye contact. She hated looking people in the eyes when they were angry or upset with her.

"I'd like to ..." Mizukawa began, folding her hands together and staring intently at her student. A thousand thoughts ran through Akimi's head and none of them were pleasant Like to what? Fail her? Demand her to redraw the fruit bowl? Move her across the room into the deepest, darkest corner of the class? Oh, she'd redraw the fruit bowl a million times as long as she got to keep her seat by the bay window.

"...to..." Mizukawa paused, clearing her throat which meant "You should be looking at me right now and probably listening". Akimi looked up slowly at her teacher and was surprised to see her smiling. "To congratulate you," she said, smiling wider.

Akimi was lost. Congratulate her? For what? Did she win something? Was this one of those things where teachers enter their students in competitions without their knowledge and then when they win they're completely confused?

"Congratulate me?" she asked. "For what? I didn't do anything."

She laughed softly, "I wanted to congratulate you on your wonderful artwork."

"What?" Akimi was a half shocked and half relieved. "But I … I didn't do the assignment."

"I know, but your drawing of that boy was excellent. I was surprised at first that you didn't do the project but when I saw the exquisite detail and the shading, well I was just amazed. It would take at least two or three classes for half of your classmates to get the amount of detail you got in one class. With your permission I would like to frame the photo for the art show coming up."

"B-But .. I thought that the art show was to sell pieces?"

"Some pieces will be sold, but there's also a display that is simply meant for people to look at. If you're uncomfortable with the art show, I'd at least like to hang it up in this class for reference for other students. They could really learn a lot from your attention to detail and the way you captured shadows consistently. It'd be really nice to have in class."

"I …" She frantically thought of some excuse as to why she couldn't let the drawing see the light of day. There was no way she'd let it have permanent residence upon the wall in the art class. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Mizukawa knitted her eyebrows together and looked at Akimi a bit suspiciously. "Why not?" She raised an eyebrow at the girl in expectation. The brunette rocked back and forth on her heels, feeling anxious.

"Well … because I, uhm..." She searched for a reason. It would've been fine if she hadn't signed her name on the bottom, but she had in very clear print with a little flourish. If it was hung up in class, people would look at it. And if people looked at it then they would see her name. And if they saw her name then they'd know who she'd been staring at through the whole art class. The thought mortified her.

Mizukawa cleared her throat again and stared at Akimi.

"I, uhm, I just don't … I don't think I'm ready to have my art on display. I'm sorry... It's just … well this was a quick sketch, it's not all that good."

"I think it's perfect."

"Oh, well... I'd be happy to take time to do a real piece for you."

The teacher narrowed her eyes at the girl who fidgeted with the sleeves of her gray jacket. Finally she sighed and nodded. "All right, if you don't want me to hang it up, then I won't hang it up."

"Thank you!"

She handed the drawing back to the girl who took it and hastily shoved it into her sketchbook. She turned to leave but Mizukawa called out after her.

"Akimi?"

"Yes, sensei?"

"What's the name of that piece?"

"Huh?"

"All artists name their pieces. What's the name of that one?"

She looked down at the sketchbook under her arm and shrugged. "I don't have a name for it, yet."

"Hm... Just a suggestion, you don't have to take it, but I think you should call it _Distant Admiration_, or something of similar meaning."

She felt her face turn pink and she nodded, "Yeah, okay, I'll think about it." She turned to leave again but Mizukawa caught her once more.

"Who was your inspiration for it?"

"Huh?"

"Your inspiration? You drew it in class, so I thought maybe you'd picked a classmate to draw... maybe not. I'd be very impressed if you drew that from memory."

"Oh, uhm... It was just … it was just a kid across the room."

"Hmm... all right."

"W-Why do you ask?"

"Just curious who you were staring at that whole time. To me, personally, it looks a lot like that Umino kid."

Akimi was sure her face flared fire engine red at that but if Mizukawa noticed she didn't saw anything. She just shrugged and nodded. "O-Oh, well, maybe. I don't know. Just a kid!" She laughed nervously and mentally kicked herself. That wasn't suspicious. But her teacher just nodded and then waved her away.

"Sorry to keep you so long. Go ahead and get out of here. Enjoy that sunshine while you still can!"

Akimi bowed, thanking her and then raced out of the classroom. Okay so there was no way she was drawing Iruka anymore. At least not in art class.


	3. Just a Little Blurry and Headstrong

**A/N: **As usual, this one was drastically different in the original, but I do like this one better. She's a lot less emotional. I hope you guys are liking this story.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, characters, etc. etc. etc. I do own my OCs, original dialogue, etc. etc. etc. Enjoy, R&R, thanks!

Unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine.

* * *

Akimi strode out of the school as the final bell rang, hopping down the steps and onto the sidewalk. The sun was still out and though it was a bit cooler than she had been led to believe, it was still somewhat warm and was a welcome change of weather. She headed down the sidewalk towards home.

"Hey! Akimi!"

She turned on her heels to see who had called out after her. To her surprise, it was the boys who had been sitting with Iruka during art. She slowed her pace and then stopped for them, shifting her backpack to her other shoulder. "Yeah?" She was kind of surprised that they knew her name. She didn't really socialize with Iruka's friends.

"We wanted to know if you are interested in our friend, Iruka," the taller one said.

"Uhmm..." Akimi fought back a sudden blush and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess? I mean, he's my friend." They just stared at her and she began to feel a bit uncomfortable. She took a step back, distancing herself from the strange boys.

"Wait," the other one piped up causing her to freeze. "He really likes you."

"W-What? Really?"

"Yeah."

"Um... okay... That's ... cool, I guess."

He folded his arms across his chest and stared at her. "Well, aren't you gonna ask him out or something?"

"What? N-No, I – shouldn't _he_ ask _me_ out, anyways? I mean, well, why does it matter?"

"Iruka is our friend and we want to help him, you know, get a girlfriend."

Akimi frowned a bit and dug her nails into the strap of her backpack. "You want to help him?" They nodded. "Just to get a girlfriend?"

"Yeah."

"Great! If that's all you want to do, then maybe you can get Ayane to be his girlfriend. I'm sure he'd like that. I know she's been trying since his freshman year." She turned back around walked off briskly. The two boys exchanged worried glances and raced to catch up to her.

"Yo, hey, wait up a minute."

"What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" she asked a bit in disbelief. She stopped short and the boys almost ran into her. She looked each of them in the eye. "You don't really care who it is as long as Iruka has a girlfriend. You're just trying to 'help' him, right? If he really liked me and wanted to date me, or anyone, he could – and should – ask himself instead of getting his friends to do it. Besides there are a ton of other better girls for him to date. I'm too young."

She pushed past them and continued on her path down the sidewalk.

"N-Not to Iruka you aren't!" the taller one shouted out.

"Yeah! He likes young girls!" the other one added.

"Idiot!" replied his friend angrily, "That makes it sound like he's a pedophile!"

"Oh! Wait, no – that's not what I meant. I just meant that he -"

"Forget it," the tall boy sighed. "She's already gone."

* * *

Akimi shuffled into the quiet house, dropping her backpack next to her shoes and headed towards the kitchen. She rummaged around for a cup in the cabinet above the sink and pulled out the chilled bottle of apple juice from the fridge. She quietly poured herself a glass of the juice and pushed the plastic jug back into its place alongside the carton of eggs and gallon of milk. The door closed behind her as she picked up her glass from the island and sipped on it.

She turned back to the fridge and noticed a note stuck to the right door with a piece of clear tape.

_Akimi – I'll be gone all day. Dinner's in the oven. I'll be with Toru. Love, Mom. _

Typical. Akimi's mom had been dating Toru since Akimi had started high school and they'd been spending almost every day together. Akimi hadn't seen her mom in the last three days since she left for work in the morning before Akimi was awake for school and then came back from her dates with Toru way after Akimi'd gone to bed. She didn't know too much about her mom's boyfriend but he seemed nice enough. He'd buy her mom jewelry and take her out to restaurants and movies every week. She'd only met him a few times, though. The first time they met he had presented her with a stuffed koala from the New York Zoo when he'd visited the city for business.

The girl sighed into her juice and leaned against the island, staring at the refrigerator. Life didn't seem so great right now. She was beginning to regret her earnest attempt to shove Ayane onto Iruka (though, truly, there wouldn't be too much shoving involved since Ayane was an eager volunteer). She had panicked at the thought of having a boyfriend – and having it be Iruka, at that.

There was nothing she had against the boy, it was just that she really did think that she was too young for him. He was almost three years older than her and would be graduated way before she was. If they were both out of high school it might've been a possibility, but right now at the ages that they were it was just … silly.

If anyone was going to date Iruka, it should be a girl his own age. Someone who was mature and responsible and who could go off to college with him. She felt her heart drop at the thought of some other girl holding his hand and kissing his clumsily-received bruises and lying on the couch together, running her hands through his hair. She wasn't sure why she had suggest Ayane since she wasn't the ideal person for the softhearted boy. She wouldn't hold his hand when he needed it or give him unexpected hugs from behind or surprise him with early birthday gifts.

She bit at the glass lip of her cup as she thought of all the things that Ayane wouldn't do for Iruka, even though he deserved them. Or maybe, even worse, she _would_ do all of those things. Maybe she'd prove to be the perfect girlfriend and Iruka would fall in love and they'd get married and go to college together and live the rest of their lives as Mr. and Mrs. Umino.

"I wonder what they'll tell him..." she wondered aloud, tapping her nails against her cup. She immediately felt guilty thinking about it. She didn't exactly, explicitly _say_ that she didn't want to go out with Iruka. She hadn't even thought of it. She had just mentioned the fact that she was currently at too young of an age to be dating and then gave them a secondary option to consider for Iruka's future girlfriend. She hoped she hadn't hurt his feelings. What if his friends were telling the truth and he actually did like her?

Akimi almost dropped her cup at the thought and had to drop it on the island behind her, turning around and grasping at the counter top to keep from falling. If he actually liked her she didn't know what she'd do. She knew she liked him the moment she met him several years ago, but she didn't want to throw away a good friendship if something went awry while they were dating. It was just silly to do that.

Okay. She wasn't thinking clearly. She needed to sit down, have some dinner and think about what she was going to do when she saw Iruka next. (Surely if they were telling the truth, his friends would've told him that she rejected him and he would want to know why.) She remembered the note and pulled open the oven door to find nothing. Confused, she checked the note again and then checked inside the fridge, wondering if her mom had come back to put the food away. Nothing that looked like dinner. Maybe her mom had forgotten to leave it for her? That was strange... Maybe she could make something for herself. She surveyed the option lining the chilled shelves but nothing she found could be combined into a dinner.

Akimi returned to the front door, slipped on her shoes and pulled a cream-colored trench coat over her school clothes. She snatched up her wallet from her backpack, shoving it into a coat pocket and headed outside. She wasn't sure how much money she had with her but she hoped it'd be enough for her to buy some dinner.

* * *

As Akimi strode down the sidewalk, dark clouds began to roll in and distant thunder echoed around her. Before long there were fat droplets of rain pouring down on top of her head. The sidewalk was speckled with dark circles of rain and she picked up her pace before she got soaked. She raised her arms up over her head as another loud crack of thunder rolled overhead and the rain became heavier. She began sprinting on her toes, hurrying to find some shelter from the driving rain that stung her face.

She could barely see with the water droplets gluing her eyelashes together and the dripping sleeves of her coat dangling in front of her face. She was practically running blind and ended up running right into something – or someone.

"Ow!" she exclaimed as she fell back into a puddle, grabbing her head as pain shot through her temples.

"Wha – oh my gosh! Akimi-chan! I'm so sorry! Oh my gosh – oh, jeez. I am sorry."

She winced as she looked up into the rain to see the drenched face of Iruka, loose strands of dark brown hair sticking to the sides of his face. His eyes were wide and filled with worry. He started to kneel down but stopped and reached a hand out instead. Akimi grabbed his hand, feeling the warm but wet curve of his palm and was hoisted to her feet.

"Iruka? What are you -"

_Plip plip plip._

She stopped, feeling something run down the side of her face. At first she thought it was just more rain but then noticed that it was warm and thicker than water. She raised her hand to her cheek, fingers brushing in the warm liquid. She pulled her hand back to see the watery red color of blood.

"What … happened?" she asked a bit shocked.

"I'm so sorry!" Iruka apologized again, frantic at the sight of blood. Akimi was confused as to where the blood was coming from. She touched her forehead and cheekbones but neither were cut. Then her fingers wandered to her top lip which tasted like copper and realized that she'd gotten a nose bleed. She tried to stop the blood with her hand but it just ran over her fingers and dripped to the sidewalk. The rain poured down on the two kids and began washing the blood over her face.

"A-Akimi-chan, do you need a tissue?"

She nodded silently, afraid that if she said anything she would get a mouthful of iron-tasting blood. Iruka dug through his pockets and produced a paper tissue that was quickly soaked through by the rain. Akimi pressed it to her nose and could see out of the corner of her eye as it turned red fast. Iruka scrambled for something else and pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket. He offered it to the girl who swapped it out with the red tissue that she shoved into her trench coat pocket.

"Thanks," she mumbled, tasting the fainest hint of blood on her lips.

"Y-Yeah, no problem..."

She blinked away raindrops from her eyes and squinted at him. "What are you doing out here?"

"I was at the library, studying... I was walking home when the storm started."

"Oh..."

"What were you doing out here?"

"I was going to go get food."

"In this storm?"

"It started when I was walking, like you."

"Oh. Right. Well... uhm, do you mind if I … walk with you?"

"I … uhm, okay... But I don't know where I'm going."

"Are you going to the store or out to eat?"

She shrugged, feeling the flow of blood slow down to a trickle. She dabbed at her nose with the handkerchief that was splotched with red. She looked down at it pitifully then at Iruka. "I don't know if you want this back or not..."

He hesitantly began to reach for it, unsure of whether he wanted to keep it with the blood on it.

"Uhm, I'll just ..." Akimi folded it and put it in his pocket and Iruka gratefully retracted his hand and nodded. "I'll wash it and get it back to you."

"Yeah, okay. That'll work."

"Okay." Akimi nodded, self-consciously rubbing at her nose fearing that some blood was still there. She used two fingers to rub water along her face and was relieved to find no red on her fingertips. "Well I'm … I guess I could go out to eat. I wasn't sure where to go... I don't know how much money I have with me..."

"That's fine. I have money."

"Huh?"

"We can go to Ichiraku. That's not too far from here. You like ramen right?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Great! Do you wanna go?"

Akimi felt her face warm and she nodded, brushing wet strands of hair out of her face. The rain was beginning to let up but the sky was still dark with heavy clouds. Iruka smiled at her and reached out, brushing off rain from her shoulders. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and directed her in the direction of the ramen shop. He leaned over her, squeezing her arm and keeping her tucked under his arm.

"What are you doing?" she asked shyly.

"I don't want you to get wet."

They both took a moment then exchanged glances. Iruka blushed and Akimi laughed. "It's kind of late for that."

"Yeah, it is. Sorry." He began to loosen his grip on her but she kept her head tucked against his shoulder.

"No, it's fine."

Iruka's chest swelled and he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. They walked like that all the way to Ichiraku.

* * *

"Anyways, she's been dating him for a long time now and I've only met him like three or four times. It's kind of weird. I never get to see her anymore."

Iruka nodded as he listened, slurping up the long yellow noodles of his ramen. Akimi twirled her noodles around her chopsticks, sighing heavily. She dropped the wooden eating utensils suddenly and turned to look at Iruka.

"We're friends, right?"

Iruka nodded again, this time slower and pushed more long strands of ramen into his mouth. "Yeah," he said around the food in his mouth. "Why?"

She looked down into her bowl, watching the fish cakes float around in the steaming broth. "No reason, I just … uhm, do you think... do you think Ayane's pretty?"

He swallowed hard and wiped away the broth speckling his face. "I-I guess."

"Would you date her?"

He didn't answer so Akimi turned to look at him. He was staring at her in silence. She sat back and blushed.

"What?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"I'm just curious. Uhm... Some … Some of your friends came to see me after school and they … well they were asking me about – they were just talking about you getting a girlfriend."

Iruka's face burned red and he shook his head. "Oh no..."

"Anyways I told them to ask Ayane."

"What? You did? Why?"

She shrugged. "I dunno. It was the only person I could think of ..."

"The only one you could think of that liked me?"

Akimi looked at him quickly, "No."

"Oh. So … there's something else you know that … likes me?"

She recognized the leading tone in his question so she picked up her chopsticks again. Staring down into her bowl, she plucked up a piece of cabbage and pointed it at Iruka.

"Don't you think I should've met Toru at least a few more times by now?"

"I – uh, I guess?"

She nodded, eating the cabbage. "I thought so too."

A long moment of silence before Iruka spoke up. "Akimi-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me who else likes me?"

She grinned at him, tapping her chopsticks on the edge of her bowl and shook her head. "I don't know anyone!"

"But you said you did!"

"No I didn't – oh, well... there is one."

"What? Who?"

"Well _I_ think that Moto-sensei likes you."

"What?! She's like ninety years old!"

The girl giggled and sucked up more noodles. "Yeah, that's who it is! Moto-sensei."

"Akimi-chan!"

"Ha ha ha!"


	4. Sadie Hawkins Dance

**A/N: **Sorry this one took a while to upload. I had gotten most of it written but then I put it off for other stuff. I don't know when the next chapter will be up though since I'm going to be moving soon and stuff needs to be done. But I'll try my best to be diligent about this and actually finish it! I hope you like this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, the characters, plot, etc. etc. I do own my OCs, though, etc. etc. Unbeta'd. All mistakes are gloriously mine.

* * *

"I'm really sorry," Akimi murmured, a bit embarrassed.

"No, I'm sorry," Iruka muttered back, his face characteristically tinged with pink. He struggled to stand up and offered a hand to the girl. She grasped it firmly and found his palm to be warm and a bit rough. He hoisted her to her feet and she straightened out her pleated skirt. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking... I guess I should have … I didn't mean to run into you."

"No, it's all right. I wasn't paying any attention either." Akimi smiled softly and began to pick up her scattered books and papers. Iruka mimicked her and folded a large stack of papers in half, stuffing them into his tote and shoving a thick book under his arm. He watched her for a bit as she filled her backpack with her items and turned to smile at him.

Iruka blushed more and smiled back. He took a moment to catch his breath before straightening up and clutching at the strap of his bag and the book under his arm. "U-Um, you know... Apparently they're, uhm... did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"They're going to do a dance … it's an American dance...Well I guess it's … anyways it's called Sadie Hawkins."

Akimi smiled slyly at the boy and cocked an eyebrow at him. "You know that it's the girl's job to ask the boy out for Sadie Hawkins, right?"

"Y-Yeah! I do ..." He shook his head and tugged at the collar of his gakuran. "I was just going to ask if, uhm... i-if you had a date already."

The girl studied his face for a while before nodding, "I have a date."

Iruka's eyes popped open and he stared at her, bewildered. "You do?"

"I mean I don't!" Akimi quickly replied, letting out a nervous laugh. "I meant I had an idea of who I'm going to ask for a date."

"Oh..." Iruka sighed in relief, "W-Who are you going to ask?"

The girl smirked at him and shrugged. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"What do you mean I'll have to 'wait and see'?"

Akimi just continued to smile at him and pulled on her backpack. "Exactly what I said!"

"But I -"

Iruka was cut off by the sound of the bell.

"Sorry," Akimi called out as she retreated down the hall, "but I have to get to class!"

Iruka watched her as she ran down the hallway, turning a corner and disappearing. He shifted the book from under his arm into his hand.

"What did she mean, though?"

* * *

"Anyone know the answer?" Suzuki-sensei called out, looking over the sea of faces all staring blankly at him. He sighed heavily and then turned his attention to the girl sitting in the corner. "Kono!"

Akimi's head snapped up and she stared in fear at the front of the class. She hadn't exactly been paying attention to what the teacher had been saying. "Y-Yes?"

"Do you know the answer?"

A dozen faces turned to look back at her. She swallowed hard and squinted at the blackboard filled with a million chalk lines and diagrams. She stared at the beakers and bottles of liquid lining the front desk of the chemistry room.

"Uhm... Uh..." She nervously glanced around to get some sort of idea of what they were studying. Her gaze landed on the beaker that Suzuki-sensei was holding. It appeared empty. Behind him, tacked on the wall, was the Periodic Table of Elements. A few of the small boxes had been outlined and then crossed off with blue whiteboard marker. They had been studying the elements, and once they got finished with one they crossed it off the Table. She looked for the one most recently outlined but not yet crossed off.

"Kono? You have an answer yet?"

She caught sight of the farthest right column and saw the most recently outlined box. "Neon?"

Suzuki-sensei squinted his eyes suspiciously at the girl but said nothing. He turned back to the class and continued with the lecture. No one said anything and one girl even shrugged when Akimi looked her way. She didn't know if she gave the right answer or not but the teacher didn't seem to care too much.

Oh well. At least no one had laughed at her.

* * *

"Hey, Iruka."

"Yeah?"

"You know that girl over there?"

"Akimi?"

The brunette girl's head snapped up at the mention of her name. She glanced over a few rows to see Iruka whispering with another dark-haired boy. They were leaning close together over the aisle. A third boy was turned around in his seat, leaning over Iruka's desk to hear them.

"Yeah."

"Oh... yeah... What about her?"

"She's pretty hot right?"

"What?"

"Oh, come on, man. I know you want her to ask you to the Sammy Hollins."

"It's Sadie Hawkins," Iruka began lowly, "and … so what?"

Akimi was catching bits and pieces of the conversation but she understood that Iruka wanted her to ask him to the dance. Her heart pounded in her chest and she hid her face in her notebook to keep anyone from seeing her blush. The sudden action of pulling her notebook up to her caused her pencil to roll off the desk and clack to the floor. A few curious heads turned to look at her. She ducked to pick up the fallen pencil and pulled at the thick hem of her dark socks as well.

"Well, why don't you ask her?"

"It's the girl's job to ask the boy to the dance."

"Yeah right, like she'd ask anyone."

"You never know..."

"Stop living in your fantasies! She's not going to."

"She said she had someone in mind that she was going to ask."

"What?!" The boy quickly covered his mouth and all three boys instantly snapped back to sitting positions in their own desks as their teacher turned to look at them. She glared at the boys, knowing fully well that it was them and turned back to the board, copying down text from a book. They slowly converged again.

"You need to ask her then! Before she asks someone who isn't you!"

"I don't know..."

"Make a move!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because she is my friend."

"Yeah, your really hot friend."

"Stop it."

"Why?"

"Iruka, with that attitude you won't even get to first base with her."

"K-Knock it off!"

"Ugh, you're so shy. It's disgusting."

Akimi's gaze wandered to the photograph she had pasted inside her notebook of James Stewart and Donna Reed in It's a Wonderful Life. She started thinking to the scene where James Stewart was wooing Donna Reed and telling her how he would give her the entire moon if she wanted it and about how she could eat it and all of the moonbeams would come out of her hair and fingernails. That had always been her favorite part. She always wanted to meet someone like that – someone who would walk with her at night and offer to capture the moon for her. It might've seemed silly but she always thought it romantic.

She glanced over at the long-haired boy who was hiding his face with his hands, his friends laughing softly at him. She smiled to herself, reveling in how shy he was sometimes. She'd thought of asking him to the dance and decided maybe she could do it after class, if there wasn't too much else going on.

"Kono?"

The girl looked up as her name was called and nodded at the teacher who motioned for her to the front of the class. She stood up, fixing the back of her skirt and quietly approached the teacher. She handed her a stack of papers.

"Please hand these out."

"Yes, sensei."

The girl started at one end of the classroom and began passing out the papers to each student. They all took them graciously with quietly muttered "thank yous". She finally got to the row where Iruka and his friends were sitting. She smiled shyly at the boys who all stared at her intently and smiled back. All except for Iruka. He was still hiding his face behind his large hands.

"Here you go," she murmured, handing a paper to the boy in front of Iruka who nodded.

"Thanks."

She stepped closer to Iruka and set his paper down on his desk. "Here you go, Iruka-kun."

Suddenly he was looking up at her with wide eyes, his hands away from his face. "Th-Thank you …!"

Akimi smiled at him for a bit longer then moved on to the rest of the class, passing out the rest of the papers. Iruka's friends all turned to look at him expectantly. He stared back at them, shrinking behind his paper.

"What?"

"Well? Aren't you gonna do something?"

"It's the middle of class."

"Okay, after class."

"N-No..."

"Come on, Iruka," one of his friends sighed in exasperation. "She's pretty and smart and nice, all of the things that you deserve in a girl but have trouble finding for some reason. Make your move before someone else does."

Akimi took her seat again and began scanning over the paper she had just passed out. She looked over when she heard a dull thump. Iruka was face down on the desk, his friends patting his back in a sort of comforting way.

"It's okay," one was saying. "Maybe she'll make the first move. You never know..."

"Yeah. I mean, there's no shame in dating a girl who's more of a man than you."

"Not that she's manly."

"No, not at all! She's just … more in charge of her feelings than you are."

"Yeah, you're more emotional."

Iruka's groan was muffled by the desktop. The boys patted his back again.

"Hey, at least she's not gay."

"That we know of."

Another long groan.

"Sorry."

* * *

Akimi was caught off guard by the blonde girl who was pressing her hand flat against Iruka's chest and holding him against the lockers. She was giggling softly and sweeping her hair back and forth, trailing her nails down the front of his dark blue shirt.

"Iruka-kun," the girl murmured, pinching at one of the silver buttons, "you know that there's this … dance going on..."

The brunet's eyes widened with sudden fear as he realized what was going on. He glanced over just in time to see Akimi pass by, an equally worried look on her face. They both knew what was about to transpire in front of them.

"Well, anyways, it's a 'girl ask boy' thing and I, well, when I heard that I just thought of you..."

Akimi was clutching at her backpack straps tightly as she watched the two leaning against the lockers. Was there anything she could do? She knew it wasn't exactly her place to interrupt their conversation but if she didn't do it now then it'd be too late and Iruka would go with Ayane and then who knew where their relationship would end up? Anything could happen at a dance.

Iruka cast another glance towards Akimi who was standing stock still in the middle of the hallway. He looked back at Ayane when she pulled at the second button of his gakuran and smiled sweetly.

"So I was just wondering ... if you'd like to go … with me?"

Too late. Akimi hadn't made a move. She had just stood there, stupefied with a dumb look on her face and watched as Ayane hooked her long nails under the second silver button of his navy shirt. She turned her eyes up towards Iruka, eyelashes fluttering as she waited expectantly for a positive answer.

Iruka swallowed hard and stuttered out, "Sorry, but I-I can't."

Ayane's pristine composure fell from her face and confusion replaced her naturally flirty demeanor. Anger flashed through her eyes and she gripped at the front of his shirt.

"What do you mean you can't?"

The boy squirmed under the grip and his palms swatted at the lockers behind him, trying to catch some sort of traction against the smooth metal. Ayane pinched at the navy fabric and pulled him closer.

"I-I mean I – I'm sorry! It's a, uhm, b-bad time...?"

Ayane's eyes narrowed again. "What do you mean by that? Why aren't you saying yes?"

Suddenly, before she even knew what was happening, Akimi was stepping up beside the two teens and blurting out an excuse for Iruka.

"It's because he's already going with me."

Slowly, Ayane turned her head around to look at the brunette. Iruka was looking at her too, in shock, momentarily forgetting how close he was to having his throat slit with the long painted nails glued onto Ayane's hands.

"Excuse me?"

"I-I-I asked him and he said yes."

The blonde kept her eyes trained on Akimi. "When was this?"

"Last class."

"Really?"

"Um... yeah," Akimi said cautiously, a bit nervous. She cast a glance at Iruka and Ayane followed her gaze. Iruka looked between the girls before nodding vigorously.

"Y-Yes! That's exactly what happened... last class."

Ayane narrowed her eyes at the boy before releasing his shirt and stepping back. She smoothed down her own uniform and pasted a crooked smile on her face. "Well, fine, then. I guess I'll just have to find someone else to go with.

"You could always go with your boyfriend," Akimi stated before she had thought it through. She clutched her hands into fists and immediately prepared for a storm of angry comments from the girl. Ayane's head snapped towards the girl, but instead of saying anything she just fixed her eyes on her for a while. Akimi felt small and vulnerable under the harsh gaze. Finally, a broken smile cracked through the anger, Ayane's pale pink lips twitching in an attempt to keep composure.

"Yeah. Right. I'll ask him." She huffed and shot a quick, half-smile at Iruka before strutting off angrily. The brunette glanced over at her friend and bit her bottom lip.

"Did you know she had a boyfriend?" she asked lowly.

"No... How did you?"

"I didn't... I just … said the first thing that came to mind."

"Oh. Well... I guess it worked."

"Yeah. I guess so."

A moment of awkward silence as they shuffled around and cast glances towards Ayane who was storming down the hallway, muffled sobs echoing back towards them. Finally Iruka took in a deep breath and spoke.

"Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"That you'd go with me, or … that we'd be going together... to Sadie Hawkins?"

"Yes. I mean – if you meant it. Er, if you wanted to. Do you want to?"

"D-Do you want to?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"...wait, so you do or …?"

"Yes! Yes I do... I'd, yeah," Iruka smiled shyly. "I'd like to go to the dance with you."

Akimi beamed, pushing her hands against her face and looking down at the ground. "Wow! Really?"

"Yeah... Why?"

"I wasn't expecting a positive – well... I didn't know if I was going to ask anyone so I wasn't expecting anyone to say yes."

"Well of course."

"Huh?" She looked up at him.

His face was red and he was fidgeting with his top button. "A-Anyone you asked would've said yes... I mean, they would've been fools not to."

The girl blushed warmly and blinked in surprise. "Th-Thank you, Iruka-kun..."

"Y-Yeah..."

She grinned at him, her face burning hot and her clothes suddenly too clingy. She tugged at the corner of her skirt and bowed deeply. "Thank you so much for accepting my invitation, Iruka-senpai! I look forward to going to the dance with you!"

"Y-You too, Akimi-chan..."

Another moment of silence.

"Now what?"

"Uhm, I'm not sure... I guess we just …" Iruka cleared his throat and a worried expression passed through his eyes momentarily. "We should probably get to class."

"Oh!" Surprise lit up Akimi's face and she nodded. "Yeah, you're right!"

"Which direction are you going?"

"This way," she pointed to her left. Iruka nodded.

"I'm going the other way."

"Oh. Well... see you then."

"Right... See you."

"Okay. Bye!"

"Bye..."

Akimi hesitated for a moment before sprinting down the hallway, anxious to make it to class on time. Iruka watched her go, smiling a bit to himself until he remembered that he too would be late if he didn't hurry. He turned and booked it down the other hallway, skidding around the corner and nearly taking out a group of three students walking together. He apologized profusely before stomping down the hall and disappearing into a classroom. He had really wanted to just stay and talk to Akimi, but he couldn't afford to be late, at least not with this class. After all there would be plenty of time after school to talk about the dance.


End file.
